Pope Francis Learns Tagalog - Filipino Language

In an effort to reach the Filipino people closer, Vatican's Pope Francis has been trying to learn Tagalog - Filipino language for his scheduled visit on the country on January 15-19, 2015.

However, according to a report of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Pope found Tagalog a hard language to learn - as expected to an old aged man with a tight days before the visit.

“We were able to talk with him. That’s why before that day, I practiced my Italian, what I would tell him,” a Filipino seminarian based in Rome said of his encounter with the pope before the Te Deum and Vespers on December 31, 2014.

"He asked me if I spoke Tagalog. He said, 'You speak Tagalog?' I said, 'Yes!' Then he said, I'm trying Tagalog but it's difficult," - Bro. Francis Dominic Vergara of Congregation of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate recounted in a CBCP News report.

GOOD NEWS!
Archbishop Socrates Villegas said on January 12, 2015 - Monday that the Pope is prepared to use the phrase "Sumasampalataya ako" during the credo in the scheduled mass at the Quirino Grandstand on January 18.

"I think he is prepared to say 'Sumasampalataya ako.' It would be stressful for the Pope to recite the Apostles' Creed in Tagalog. Mercy and compassion for the pope," - Archbishop Socrates Villegas said on an interview.

Separate reports said that Pope Francis will use English language on his masses in Tacloban City on January 17 and in Rizal Park on January 18, 2015.

However, the mass that will be held in Manila Cathedral will be in Latin.